"It's terrible; it's heartbreaking," said Ralph Bass, a former town employee who once tended the cemetery. "It's a shame to the town of Selma and the people who are buried there."

Town Manager Richard Douglas and public-works director Terry Keen said the grass was killed by spraying meant to control weeds.

"Only a few people are upset," said Keen, adding that the department had been spraying the graveyard for more than 10 years. Cutting back weeds manually became too laborious after the department lost its part-time help a few years ago, he said.

Bass, the retired town employee, said the grass has never looked like it does now; he first noticed the damage last month.

"That cemetery is a perpetual-care cemetery; the money is supposed to be used for maintenance," he said. "If you can't keep this cemetery up, you need to hire some help."

Lisa Pulley of Clayton sometimes visits the graves of family members in the cemetery. "Something needs to be done to repair this," said Pulley, whose mother is buried in Selma. "It's unacceptable."

Pulley said the cemetery looked fine a few months ago, but she noticed the damaged grass last month.

Douglas, the town manager, said a few people had contacted the town about the cemetery's appearance. "It has become an issue," he said. "It's really an issue of how we move forward beginning next year."

With rhe arrival of fall, the grass is growing dormant, meaning the town will not have to spray any more this year, the town manager said.

Douglas said the town has a few options, including re-hiring part-time help to cut the weeds instead of spraying them. But as it stands, there is no money in the town's budget to change their caretaking methods. He said the town would consider other options too, but would likely be unable to hire part-time help for manual weeding until next July.

For their part, Pulley and Bass think the town should fix the grass now, even if it means laying down sod.